A New Companion
by misslondon98
Summary: Aislinn Gallagher was just a girl who dreamt of seeing the world and beyond, being bored out of her mind by a bland life and near accepting defeat. That is, until a lonely and heartbroken Doctor comes along...takes place after Journey's End
1. First Meeting

"Aislinn? Aislinn?"

I was awoken by a rough hand shaking me.

"Aislinn, you have to wake up, mum's calling you."

Ugh. Great. Up until then I had forgotten where I was.

"Go away, Daniel."

My brother groaned and started kicking the bed.

"Seriously Aislinn. Get up. You can't sleep the holiday away."

Finally accepting defeat, I lifted my head off the pillow and put my feet on the floor, wincing as the cold wood touched my skin. "Tell her I'll be down in a minute," I murmured sleepily. Daniel left my bedroom quickly to go calm the savage beast.

I started absentmindedly flicking through my wardrobe. I wasn't sure why I really took any time to decide what I was going to wear, since all I would be doing that day would be nothing. As usual.

Once I was dressed, I went downstairs to find my mother cooking. Of course.

I found my father sitting at the table reading a newspaper. Of course.

I could tell from the sounds coming from his room that Daniel was locked away, strumming on his guitar. Of course.

But one thing was different.

A tall, skinny man in a pinstriped suit was seated at the table. He had an absentmindedly gleeful expression and a long brown coat. Just looking at him made me feel weird. I couldn't even describe the feeling. It was just...weird.

"Aislinn!" my mother exclaimed, turning away from the stove. "This is Mr. Smith. He's from the government. Says he'd like you to answer some questions about St. Andrews."

The government was inspecting St. Andrews? Bit random. But hey, why not?

"Okay. What do you want to know?" I asked him.

"Just a few standard questions. Let's not bother your parents, why don't we go into the sitting room?" He got up from his chair and walked to the door. I shrugged and followed him.

"So, Aislinn, that's a lovely name," he told me, still smiling like he wasn't even aware that he was.

"Thank you. Mr. Smith, was it?" I asked him. I could tell just by looking at this man that a name like that was far too common for him.

"Yes, John Smith. Now, Aislinn, you're studying what exactly?"

_John Smith? You've got to be kidding me. Nobody has that name, _I thought, drifting off into daydreaming.

"Aislinn?"

"Sorry?" I snapped out of my dream state. "Right, yes, studies. Cultural anthropology and graphic design."

"Those are two very different fields," he observed. He seemed actually interested. Why did he care what I studied?

"Well, I like culture, I like art, and those two seem pretty similar if you ask me," I snapped at him. He didn't seem fazed. Usually when people have been in the same room as me for this long they're inching toward the door. But not him.

"And you go back tomorrow, yes? You're on holiday?" he asked me further. Shouldn't he be writing things down? Isn't that what official people do?

"Well, yeah, obviously. It's Christmas. But I'll be back tomorrow, thank God."

"Most people wouldn't be quite so excited," he noted, his curiosity visibly deepening. This interview was beginning to creep me out. Why was he being so personal?

"I hate it here," I told him. "Suffocating. Limited. Oppressive. Each day I'm told to live just a regular life, and I don't want that. I want to see the world. I want to see more than just the world. The faster I can get away from here the better chance I have at at least having a shot at a dream."

An odd look came across his face as I said that. Deja vu? Empathy? It was hard to tell. But for some reason it made me feel almost comfortable around him.

"Right. So, Aislinn, have you noticed anything...unusual about the school lately?" he asked me. Ah. We get to the real point of this.

I thought back. Not really. Nothing serious. But, if the government was inspecting it, maybe there was something, and it wasn't my imagination this time...

"Sometimes...I feel like I need to always watch my back. Like there's something watching me. Sometimes...students just disappear. They say that they just drop out or something, but it seems like more. My mate Tommy, he loved it there, he seemed really happy. One day, just gone. It seems almost...connected," I told him, subconsciously looking over my shoulder as I said it. "I probably sound like a nutter," I added, embarrassed.

"No," he murmured. "Not at all. Promise me this, Aislinn, when you go back to school, if you see anything out of the ordinary, I want you to find me."

"But, how will I find you?" I asked him. He gave me a small smile.

"You will."

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><p>AN: First Doctor Who fic, so I apologize if it's terrible. Kind of new territory...


	2. Don't Blink

"Aislinn!"

I turned to see my boyfriend running up to me at full speed.

"I've been looking for you all morning," he panted. "Did you survive?"

I shrugged. "Still here, aren't I?"

"That's always good," he smiled, pecking me quickly on the cheek. "Did a man talk to you at any time recently?"

"A man?" I asked, feeling color draining from my face. I wasn't sure why, it made sense that he would ask more than one person, but I couldn't help it. "Yeah, a John Smith. Why, did he talk to you too?"

Evan nodded. "Yeah. Bit creepy, isn't he?"

I shrugged. "I don't know creepy is the word. He's just sort of-"

"Aislinn?"

I looked away from Evan to see a man...in a pinstriped suit...with a coat..

"Mr. Smith?"

Mr. Smith walked towards me, that same insane grin on his face. "Hallo! Fancy running into you here. Well, I guess it's not that unusual, wander the corridors for long enough for long enough and you'll find anyone...and you!" he turned to Evan. "I saw you two days ago. Seen anything odd, either of you?"

"No, haven't. Just like I told you," Evan replied. I shook my head.

"Can't say I have."

Mr. Smith just kept on grinning. "Well, tell me if you do."

Mr. Smith turned and walked away, his coat blowing out behind him.

"I swear that guy's nuts...bet he's not even from the government," Evan said.

I nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah, sure."

I didn't really care if he was nuts. What I cared about was who the hell he was.

* * *

><p>"So really, Sharon, I would say that you should just ignore him and get on with your-"<p>

"Aislinn? What is it?"

"Did that statue just move?" I asked her, my eyes transfixed on the angel statue behind her.

"What? Of course it didn't move. Statues don't move. Are you on something?"

"That statue was up against the building. Now it's about a meter in front of it," I observed, walking towards the stone angel.

"You must've seen it wrong. Perception or something. The angle made you think it was right up against the building," Sharon shrugged.

"I don't think so..." I murmured. "I haven't moved."

Sharon laughed. "Then what do you think happened? The statue magically moved from one place to another? Did you even see it move?"

I shook my head.

"You've been reading too many fairytales," she sighed. She picked up her bag and walked away.

"Right," I mumbled, barely paying attention.

"Aislinn?"

I almost didn't recognize the voice. It wasn't cheery, or friendly, not how it usually was. Instead it was slow, and steady. Cautious.

"Yes, Mr. Smith? I asked, turning around.

"You saw something didn't you?" he asked me, his tone making me not want to lie. I felt like a child.

"Don't you see it?" I asked him. "That statue...isn't there anymore, how can it not be there anymore?"

Where the angel had been previously was now an open space.

"I promise you, it was right there!" I pleaded. Mr. Smith nodded solemnly.

"I believe you. Aislinn, from now on, don't turn your back on anything, don't look away, never be away from crowded areas, and whatever you do...don't blink."

I was too afraid to even bother asking how I could not blink for so long.

"What's happening?" I whispered. Everything about him, his posture, his tone, his expression...it told I should be terrified.

"There's something here that shouldn't be here. And they're dangerous," he told me.

"But what _are_ they?" I pressed further. I could handle anything. I wasn't afraid of anything. Excitement and danger go hand in hand. But unless I knew what it was...then it was scary.

Mr. Smith hesitated. "They're bad. That's all you need to know for now."

And with that, he was gone.

* * *

><p>AN: Aislinn will be a companion soon enough, but first they'll be a couple of chapters of how they met, so please just be patient if you're getting bored and want some TARDIS involvement


	3. Explanations

After my encounter with Mr. Smith, I became paranoid. And rightly so, according to him. Everywhere I went, I made sure I was never alone. I looked in every corner of every room. I watched very carefully. Unfortunately, watching something when you don't know what it is is not the easiest task.

"You haven't seen him have you?" I asked Evan as we wandered to class.

"No, Ash, I haven't. Why do you care? The guy just dropped in, asked a bunch of people a bunch of questions, and ran off. He's gone. Reporting to the government or something."

"He just...he gave me some advice. I'd really like to talk to him. That's all," I sort of lied.

"Just let it go, Ash. Mr. Smith is just some government drone asking routine questions and carrying on with his business. Don't overthink it."

"I'll think however I goddamn please!" I snapped at him, storming away like he'd just run over my puppy.

Driven by frustration at Mr. Smith's sudden disappearance, I kept on walking until I realized that I was surrounded by forest.

"Shit," I muttered, remembering Mr. Smith's warning. I hadn't seen anything lately, but that didn't mean I was going to ignore him. For once in my life, I was doing what I was told.

Figuring that my chances of encountering something evil were somewhat slim, I simply started to head back the building I had come from. How wrong I was.

I wasn't even sure how it appeared. One minute there was nothing in front of me but a tree. The next minute...there it was.

"Aislinn, be very, very calm," I heard from behind me.

"Mr. Smith?" I asked, surprised at how steady my voice was.

"Do not blink. If you blink just once...you're gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone? Where are you?"

"Do not turn around, just keep on looking at it. I'm right behind you. Aislinn, at the count of three, I need you to duck. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mr. Smith."

"On three. One...two...three!"

I felt him crouch down behind me as I dropped to my knees. His back was pressed up against mine.

"Mr. Smith?" I asked. "You still haven't told me what's going on."

"Move to the side, then stand up," he instructed me. I did as told.

When I stood up, I saw why he had his back to me. Right behind me, where he had been looking, was a second stone angel. My angel and his were staring directly into the other's eyes.

"Weeping Angels," he told me. "Aliens. They have the perfect defense system. Whenever something looks at them, they turn to stone. And you can't kill stone."

"Then how can they kill you?" I asked, surprisingly calm.

"They wait until they look away. Then they don't kill you, they send you to another time and feed off of the energy of the life you would have led. You're forced to live out a life in another time, start over."

"But they moved while I was watching them," I argued.

Mr. Smith gave me a small smile. "You blinked."

I snorted. "Oh, come off it. How can something move that fast in the time it takes me to blink?"

"They did. You saw it with your own eyes."

"Who are you?" I asked. "Because there's no way that you're from the government."

Mr. Smith took a step towards me. "I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor...who?" I asked.

"Just the Doctor. The one and only."

"And you know all this alien stuff because...?"

The Doctor beckoned for me to follow him. "Come with me."

I followed him through a seemingly nonexistent path through the woods. After nearly fifteen minutes, we came upon a blue box.

"A police box?" I questioned. "These haven't been around since what, 1963?"

The Doctor looked surprised. "Well done, most people don't know that."

"I still don't understand. What does a police box tell me? That you really enjoy lugging antiques around?"

The Doctor ran into the box, a huge grin spreading across his face. After several moments I followed him.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!" he exclaimed, leaning against some big control thingy in the center. "That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Anything you want to say?"

"It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," I said. "Is it magic?"

"Magic? No, it's science! Beautiful science! Basically, it's another dimension," he explained.

"What it is?" I asked, walking around the control thingy.

"It's a time machine."

"No, seriously, what is it?"

"It is!" He looked hurt. "Want me to prove it to you?"

"Excuse me?" I asked, laughing a little.

"Come with me. C'mon Aislinn, you know it's real. You saw the spaceship on Christmas, the Christmas star, Big Ben, the Titanic replica, you know that there is more to this world than you have ever seen and I know from just talking to you for a few minutes that you believe in it."

"Who are you?" I demanded. "Not just your name, what are you?"

"I'm a time traveller," he told me with a completely straight face. The really shocking part was, I believed him.

"And you know about aliens? How?"

The Doctor stepped towards me. "Because that's what I am."

My heart started to race. "Okay then. You're an alien who travels throughout time. What does that have to do with me?"

"You could come with me."

It was amazing how one sentence could have so much in it. In that one sentence, I heard pleading. I heard tentativeness. I heard loneliness. I heard a child.

"Why me?"

"Because you're the girl who dreams big. The girl who wants to see it all. You want so badly to see the universe, the worlds, the times and the cultures, but you can't. You're never gonna get that. Unless you come with me. You can stay here, and wallow in depression, or you can see the stars. What do you say, Aislinn Gallagher?"

I wanted to. Good Lord, I wanted. Never in my life have I ever wanted something so badly. Unfortunately, I was also a logical human being.

"I have a life," I told him. "I have exams, and a boyfriend, a family..."

"And I have a time machine. You could be with me for months and still return for five minutes ago. What do you say?"

"Why do you want me to go with you so badly?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

"Sometimes I get tired of talking to myself," he admitted, busying himself with gadgets and controls.

"You're lonely," I summarized.

"So are you."

I took a deep breath. "Okay then. Say I come with you. How do I know that you're not just some outer space conartist who can't actually travel time?"

He looked up at me with the widest grin I've ever seen. "Where do you wanna go?"


	4. Greece

A/N: So, this is my TERRIBLE attempt at creating my own alien. Maybe I should just stick with the ones already invented by the DW writers. Aside from that, this may be my last update for about a month. On Monday I go back home to England for a wedding, then I have some other stuff to do, so basically I won't have internet access for one month. I may update before then, but if not...enjoy the cliffhanger

* * *

><p>I crashed to the floor as the TARDIS lit up and glowed and swirled and basically threw me about like I was hacky sack. The Doctor laughed madly and continued pulling levers and pushing buttons.<p>

Eventually the mini hurricane stopped. "What the hell was that?" I panted.

"We just fell through the time vortex," he explained. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Well, go on, have a look outside."

I cautiously stepped toward the TARDIS door. I hesitantly opened it, just enough to stick my head out...

"Oh. My. God," I whispered. "This is Greece. We're in GREECE!"

"Not just any Greece," he corrected me. "Ancient Greece. Somewhere around, oh, I don't know, 541 B.C.?"

I squealed like a child. "Oh my God this is Greece! Wait, don't I need to change? I don't think they had jeans in 541 B.C."

The Doctor smiled at me. "Wardrobe is down the hall, third door to your left."

I ran to the wardrobe, excitement coursing through me. I slammed through the door to inevitably find, another oversized, disproportionate room. The closet went on for ages, it had different floors! I quickly spotted ancient style clothing and hurried there.

I replaced my tank top, thin bomber suede bomber jacket and dark skinny jeans for a simple _chiton, _exchanged my black splatter painted converse for a pair of sandals, removed my bracelets and anklets, and let my hair fall down in dark brown waves around my shoulders. The sight of myself in the mirror nearly made me laugh. Here I was, in ancient Greece, looking almost native! Except for one thing.

I clutched the triskele around my neck. It was imprinted on a thick silver disk, hanging from a long, thick black string that went down to the middle of my chest. I had never taken it off before. My dad gave it to me when I was just a kid. He knew I liked all that Gaelic magic, old fairytales, myths and legends type of thing. But it wasn't like I could strut through 541 B.C. with a Gaelic symbol hanging around my neck on a necklace made with modern materials. I slipped the pendant over my head and left it with my clothes.

I headed back towards the main room, feeling a little silly. "Doctor? Don't you need to wear, like, a toga or something?"

He looked up at me. "Good job, Gallagher, you look like a true Greek! Besides the tattoo."

I moved to cover the Celtic sun symbol on my ankle with the fabric.

"But togas are Roman. And I think I'll just stay like this."

"Won't somebody notice a man in a pinstriped suit walking along?" I questioned him.

"They didn't in Rome," he shrugged. "Come on, Gallagher, let's go!"

I laughed as I chased him out the TARDIS door into the busy agora. It was so _weird. _You here about history and people and everything that happened, but to actually see real people who have these lives...it was amazing. These were real people. Actual people, exactly like people back home.

"Where are we, exactly?" I asked. "Sparta? Athens?"

"I think we're in Carinth," he told me, putting his glasses on and scrunching up his face. "Yeah, definitely Corinth."

"How could you not know where we are to begin with? Aren't you the pilot?"

"The TARDIS has a mind of her own. I only aimed for ancient Greece, she did the rest. I didn't feel the need to be specific."

"But how will I understand what people are saying? How will they understand me?" I asked, suddenly aware that I did not, in fact, speak Greek. Especially not Classical Greek.

"The TARDIS. She gets inside your head, translates everything. You'll be speaking Greek to them, and they'll be speaking English to you. Same with writing."

I looked up at him. "You mean that that machine is getting inside my head and mucking about? Changing the way I perceive language?"

"Oh, relax, it's not rewiring your brain. Just translating. Quite convenient, actually. Come on, then. We've got a lot to see."

He held out his hand to me and I gladly took it. I felt so...free. Incredible.

We strolled through the marketplace for a while. It was so active. People were calling out, selling things, showing off handcrafted goods, children were playing, it was so...together. It felt like a community. I guess nobody had an option to just sit on the sofa and watch telly.

"Hello dearie!" an old woman called out to me. "Such a pretty young thing. Perhaps you would like a nice necklace to adorn your pretty neck."

"I'm good, thanks," I excused the offer. I was just an observer. Not a Greek. Of course, it would be really cool to have a little piece of history aroubd my neck...

_Snap out of it, Ash. Don't get involved. Don't get hypnotized. You know how things like this work. Step on a butterfly, all of history changes. _

"Aislinn? Are you okay?" the Doctor asked me, now several feet in front of me.

"Yes, Doctor. Sorry, just-"

"AAAAHHHH!"

The Doctor's head perked up like a dog. He took off sprinting towards the sound of the scream, but I was faster.

A young woman was sitting down against a fruit stand, tears streaming down her face. I had never seen someone look so terrified. I crouched down beside her.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt," I asked her, vaguely checking her for injuries.

"No, I-I-I...it, it just..." She burst back into sobbing. "Straight out of Tartarus, it is," she whispered to me.

I looked up at the Doctor, who was standing by her side. He took out an odd silver instrument with a blue tip and scanned her body with it. "She's fine," he muttered. "Now, what's your name?"

"Aurora," she whispered.

"What did you see?"

She started getting emotional again. "It...it was a demon. A monster. It had these claws and eyes like the night. Such...godless eyes. This was a thing of evil."

"Can you tell me more," he asked.

"It was on the seashore. Just...emerging. It looked like a woman at first...but then it was a monster. With dead eyes and scales the colour of coral. It rose two heads above me. The teeth...oh the teeth...Poseidon is cursing us all!" The woman burst back into hysterical sobbing.

"All right. Just calm down." The Doctor looked up at me. "Come along, Aislinn. We have something to investigate."

We took off running to the sea, maybe a dozen or so meters away. The water was littered with whitecaps, tossing and turning over one another. The water was way too dark, and was moving far too rapidly. It was actually _frothing _at the edge of the water. On a clear day, with no wind.

"That shouldn't be happening," I observed. "Scientifically...it's looks like it's the middle of the thunderstorm, but it's a perfect day. What's happening?"

I took several steps toward the water, only to have the Doctor pull me back sharply.

"Careful, Aislinn. We don't know what's in there," he warned me. "Black eyes and pinkish scales...hides itself as a woman...emerges from the ocean..."

He suddenly took off, sprinting towards the TARDIS. Does he _ever _stop running?

I quickly followed him, not liking this unknowing state of mind. I was in too much of a rush to realize that Aurora was gone.


	5. The Game

A/N: Hello, readers. It's been too long. I know that this alien sounds a lot like Vampires in Venice, but I assure you, that was not my intention. The monster in my head was different. I did a really bad job describing it, so it seemed more similar than it was. But anyway, not the same thing. The chapter is fairly short, but I'm going to try and dish out more chapters soon, since I want to move on to different adventures but still take my time with this one. I hope you don't mind a slightly ridiculous one next. Well, more than slightly. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"Doctor?" I called as I stepped into the TARDIS. "What is it? An alien?"<p>

"It's called a Mevoid. From the planet Triscon. They're kind of like...mermaids. They're entire planet is nothing but water. No land, no nothing, except for water. They can transform, between an aquatic creature, and a human, mostly young men or women. Carnivorous creatures, they eat everything that they see. But it's not just that. They like the chase, the hunt, they like to torture, confuse, and humiliate their pray. Like some psychotic serial killer."

"Sounds fun," I commented.

He took out the silver instrument again and pointed it towards the TARDIS control thingy.

"What exactly is that?" I asked him, still confused about half of the things that went on in this little blue box.

"Oh!" He looked at the device as though he had just realized it was there. "I haven't really told you about any of this, have I? Well, then, this is my sonic screwdriver-"

"Sonic. Screwdriver?"

"What? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?"

"What does it do?"

"Everything! Reattaches things, breaks things, evaluates things, fixes things!"

"You're seriously in love with it, aren't you?"

"Onto the control room! This is the control room of the TARDIS, don't touch anything unless I tell you to, hang on tight when she takes off, and no commentary!"

"You mean on how you stroke bits of it?"

"The TARDIS has a lot of rooms, there's a swimming pool in the library, you know where the wardrobe is-"

"Swimming pool in the library?"

He shot me a look.

"Fine, alright, I'll shut up," I murmured.

"We'll go over the rest of it another time. Right now, we have a walking horror film trekking through ancient Greece!"

He turned quickly and sprinted back out the door. One thing I learned about the Doctor very quickly, he never stays still.

I followed him through the door. I didn't completely understand what was going on. From what I could understand, there was a serial killer alien on the loose, possibly wrecking havoc through history, and the Doctor was...excited?

"Doctor?" I called, wondering where he had gotten to now. Maybe I shouldn't have come. I felt more like a nanny than a companion, trying to find my lost child.

"Aislinn! Over here," he called to me. I turned to the sound to find him kneeling in the grass, pointing the screwdriver at the ground.

"See these tracks? The grass is padded down a little bit. Look closely and you'll see the markings. Definitely a Mevoid mark. I would recognize it anywhere. I need you to search the area, try and see if you can find more tracks and follow them. Maybe if we're lu-"

Just then another scream ripped through the air. The Doctor and I took off at the same time, sprinted toward the sound. This time it came from the groves of olive trees that were beside the marketplace. We wove through the trees until we found the source.

"Oh, good God," I muttered, automatically, backing up from the sight. Bile rose in my throat, and I shook with shock.

"Aislinn maybe you should sit down," the Doctor advised me. "Go, Aislinn!"

I ran as fast as I could, but didn't make it far before I just doubled over, too shocked to carry on. I lay there, in the cool shade, trying to compose myself so that I could help the Doctor.

"Aislinn?" The Doctor came over to me after a while, looking down at me with concern. "Are you alright?"

I nodded weakly, and tried to get myself up off the ground. "Just a bit shocked, that's all."

I looked over to wear the body lay. Another young woman. Her dark curls were piled on her head, dark eyes staring blankly. Her limbs were twisted and configured in ways they just _shoudn't, _and her mouth hung open in a silent 'O'. She didn't even look scared. More like surprised.

Summoning up all my courage, I brought myself to look at her neck. The wound was fresh. Very fresh. It was gaping open, blood spilling out from it. I could see her flesh and bone. The tear was violent, like the killer couldn't decide whether to just slit her throat or tear her head off.

"I was right," the Doctor muttered. He sounded disappointed.

"You doubted yourself?" I asked him.

"Not for a moment. But it would have been nice if the girl was just insane."

He wandered off, leaving me standing there, staring at the girl. I forced myself to push past the shock and knelt down next to her. Her body was still warm. I was no doctor, that much would be clear to anyone, but I knew enough to be able to tell that her blood was still inside of her body, what hadn't spilled out.

"It killed someone else. That's who's blood they used."

I jumped as I heard the Doctor's voice behind me.

"The game is on."

The Doctor left once more, and this time I was sure that he was really gone. I was left standing there once again, finally forcing myself to gaze upon what was lying next to the girl. The glistening scarlet words made my stomach churn.

_You are a clever man, Time Lord. But you can never outsmart a Mevoid. Have fun playing your little game. I'll be playing mine._


	6. Confrontation

"I'm sorry."

The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them. Sitting here, in the TARDIS, quietly watching as the Doctor worked...I felt shunned. Awkward. And that was something I never felt.

"What are you sorry for?" the Doctor asked me, his face contorted into a look of confusion.

"For...back there. For freaking out like that. It's just...I've never seen a dead body before. Not a real one. You see stuff like that on the telly and you think, oh, well, that's not scary, whatever, but in reality-"

"Aislinn, stop," the Doctor interrupted me. "You saw a young girl with her throat half ripped out and a message in blood. I wouldn't have expected you not to care. I would be disappointed if you didn't."

"So, you're not angry with me then?" I asked tentatively. I wasn't even acting like myself. I was never tentative. I never cared if people were angry at me. But I couldn't help but feel so _vulnerable._

"Course not! I can't afford to be angry with you, we have a puzzle to solve." Suddenly he looked up at me, concern crossing his face. "Aislinn, if this is going to be too much for you-"

"No!" I quickly cut him off. "It's just...I've been attacked by aliens, learned of their existence, saw a time machine, and got whisked away to ancient Greece by an alien time traveler all in a matter of hours, and now there's a psychopath mermaid killing people. It's a lot to take in."

I didn't know why I even bothered speaking. He was back to concentrating on the TARDIS, staring intently at the screen.

"Aislinn, you're an artist, aren't you?"

"Um, yeah, kind of," I answered him, wondering what he was up to now.

"Come take a look at this for me."

I went over to were he was. Displayed up on the screen were images, the message in blood, the tracks, the ocean, the dead girl, the first girl, just pictures from all around the area.

"What can you tell from these?"

"Excuse me?" I looked up at him in confusion.

"Go on. You've got a trained eye. Are you getting anything from these? Any observations?"

"I'm in graphic design, not forensics or anything like that, I don't know what you want me to do."

I could tell that he was getting just a little bit frustrated, but not angry. Like he was just frustrated by everything, but at the same time found it all so amusing.

"Oh go on. Look at everything. Break down everything that you see, every tiny detail. Pretend you have no prior knowledge of these events. You're just observing. Tell me everything. Describe everything."

"All right then." I started with the ocean. "It's not calm. It's darker than it should be, and the water's been disturbed, it's moving, but there's no wind. The trees are completely still."

"Good, good, now what else?"

"The message. It's too neat. It looks like it's been piped out on a cake. You can't just lay blood out on grass like that, it wouldn't work. It would sink into the dirt."

The Doctor grinned at me. "Fantastic, now you're thinking!"

"And it's not realistic. Just look at it. At a glance, it looks like blood, but the consistency is all wrong. The color, as well, and it's just all wrong. It's not blood. At least, it's not regular human blood. It's just not."

The Doctor put on a pair on rectangular glasses and peered at the screen. "The question is now, what is it?"

"What, you don't know?" I asked him, slightly shocked. "You're the space expert."

"The TARDIS didn't find anything in it, it's 100% blood. Human. A-Positive. But that's impossible."

"Well, you said that these...Mevoid are all nuts. They don't exactly sound like socialites. Maybe they have some sort of technology that they're keeping from the world, something so secret that even the TARDIS can't trace it. It's not like most people would be desperate to pop in for a visit, it would easy to hide stuff like that."

The Doctor looked at me strangely, like he wasn't sure whether he should pass it off as ridiculous or actually consider it.

"That's highly unl-"

His sentence trailed on as his eyes became fixated to the wall of the TARDIS. More accurately, at the letters appearing on the wall, glistening a deep red.

_Intelligence. You choose your companions well, Time Lord. Such a pity you would never listen. Such a pity you'll never catch me._

I swallowed the lump in my throat. "That's fake blood again. It's not running down the walls."

"I know," was all the Doctor said. Clearly exasperated, he ran his fingers through his hair and groaned. "Why can't I understand this?"

"Well, what about everyone else? I mean, they live here. They know everyone. If anyone would know about anything strange going on, it would be them."

For a minute, I thought I had said something wrong. The Doctor went completely silent, his expression distant. I could have sworn I saw his eyes tear up a little, but I couldn't have been sure.

"The domestic approach," he said quietly. "Reminds me of someone I used to know."

"Doctor, are you all right?" I asked him.

His head snapped to my direction, like he had forgotten I was there. "Um, yeah. Fine. Absolutely fine."

By the way he said it, it was obvious he wasn't.

Before I could say any more, he turned and left the TARDIS once more.

I followed him out, to see him talking to an old woman. He actually followed my advice.

Following his lead, I went up to a man working at a fruit stand.

"Excuse me, but have you seen a girl around here? Her name's Aurora, she has long black wavy hair, large black eyes, tan skin, she was frightened?"

The man looked at me strangely. "I'm sorry, who?" he asked me.

"Aurora. Do you know her?"

"Miss, there are no Aurora's here. None at all. I'm a businessman, I know everyone, and I can tell you, there are no Auroras."

"But that's imposs-"

My sentence dropped as realization dawned on me. Stupid, stupid girl. It was all in front of my eyes, staring at me right in the face, but I couldn't see it.

_They can transform, between an aquatic creature and a human, mostly young men or women._

"Doctor," I whispered, not really expecting him to hear me but unable to speak any louder. "Doct-OH!"

I let out a small shriek as strong but delicate hands grabbed me and covered my mouth. I kicked and fought against my attacker, but not enough. I wanted to see where this was going first.

My kidnapper ran away from the crowds dragging me along. I kept up the appearance of fighting as the smell of the ocean entered my nostrils. I could see enough with my head bent in this angle to tell that we were on a cliff, _high _on a cliff. And far too close to the edge for my liking.

"You're a smart one, aren't you? But I am so much smarter. Smart enough to know that you are no native. Smart enough to have read your entire life history on your face."

Suddenly I was thrown down onto the ground, landing heavily. "Oh yeah? Go on, tell me my story," I shot back. "_Aurora."_

The girl, if that was really what she was, smirked. "Nice name, isn't it? I picked it at random. It was so nice, seeing your caring faces as I played you like puppets. But don't try and distract me. I know your name is Aislinn Marie Gallagher. I know you have a brother, a Daniel. You worry about him, constantly. Even right now, he's on your mind. I know that you're so very high on adrenaline that you're not even grasping any of this as real. You could wake up, back home, and not be at all surprised. And speaking of home, I know that you're not from here. Not even close, in fact. Let's see...21st century, that much is obvious. England, I believe. And let's see...Bath? Yes, Bath. Your mother's name is Julia and your father's name is Steven. Should I continue?"

"That's impossible," I said sceptically. "There's no way you could no any of that."

"Oh, but I know all of it. And that bothers you, doesn't it? Not being the one in the room who knows everything. That's why you're so uncomfortable around him. He's cleverer than you. And you hate it."

"I don't hate it," I argued. "I mean sure, it's a little annoying that he never explains anything, but-"

"But you know he wasn't always like that. Come on, Aislinn, you're a smart girl. You've heard it from his own mouth. He's lonely. He's heartbroken. He's...empty. You don't know what's wrong with him, but it's bothering you. You want to know. You want to help him. You can't help it. Tough, independent, don't-come-to-close Aislinn Gallagher...who always needs to help old ladies cross streets, and help little kids pick up their things when they drop them. Because that's the way Daddy raised you, isn't it?"

I felt my face flush with anger. My blood started boiling. I had finally had enough of this.

"You know, Aurora, you seem to know so much about everything. You took your time to really get to know me. But you would think that someone so clever would have bothered to learn one more thing about her victim."

I treasured the look of confidence on the _thing's _face for just a moment. I couldn't waste any more time.

I caught my foot around her ankle and pulled her down. In a flash, I had her pinned to the ground, struggling against me.

"Their favourite sports."

She was stronger than I had anticipated. In a matter of nanoseconds I was the one pinned down.

"Stupid girl!" she spat in my face. I freed my arm and punched her as hard as I possibly could in my current positioning.

We struggled for what seemed like a century. She was bloody strong, but I was more than a match. I almost had to hold back a smile. Despite what mum said, my years of training for my black belt _did _pay off.

Suddenly Aurora was torn off of me. I lay there, panting, before I could gather enough energy to look up.

The Doctor had her pinned up against a tree. He wasn't fighting her, and she wasn't fighting him. She was lightly struggling, but he clearly had the control. The look in his eyes was enough to scare anyone into submission.

"Now. I'm going to ask you very calmly. Who are you?" he asked her through gritted teeth.

"You know who I am."

The fire in the Doctor's eyes flamed a little brighter. "You have killed innocent people. You have hurt my friend. And I am being _very, very _calm. So tell me. Who. Are. You?"

"My name is Teklan," she admitted.

"How did you do it?"

"Do wha-" she began, then faltered when she saw the look on the Doctor's face intensify even more. Even my face was draining of colour, and I wasn't the one he was interrogating.

"The Mevoid have been harboring secrets for millennium. We've made advances you would never believe. They've been kept in such secretive and classified facilities that even your precious TARDIS would glide right over it. It's not as if people would exactly come knocking, it was easy."

"How could you possibly know what you do, about me, about Aislinn?"

Teklan rolled her eyes. "Advanced technology, remember? With a press of a button I can draw up her life history. People don't just disappear off of this Earth without a trace. They leave such trails behind them. Birth certificates, photographs, videos, paperwork, it was so easy to tear her apart. Plus, humans are easy enough to read. You can tell from looking into their eyes exactly what they're feeling. But you, Doctor, you were so much harder. My records had nothing about you. Absolutely nothing. Lucky for me, you're much more emotional than she is. I didn't have to take a second glance at you to see the emptiness in your eyes, the shell that you are. It hurts, doesn't it? Every minute of every day. You are in constant pain. It was always bad, for so long, after all, you are the last Time Lord, it doesn't get lonelier than that, but there was something else, wasn't there? There was something else in your life, a shining light...that got snatched away. Your heart got broken all over again. A sad, lonely old man, who can't even hold onto one tiny bit of peace, of love."

The Doctor's gaze had softened. Suddenly his face was flooded with hurt, loneliness. It reminded me of when he asked me to come along with him. He looked ancient, like he had lived through a thousand life times of misery.

A million questions bubbled on my lips, but I held them back. Now was not the time.

"You can't stay like this for long. You may look human, your body may have transformed in every way, but it's still just a show. Your body can't handle it for long."

Teklan smiled. "You're right, Doctor. This form is very temporary. And, if you really insist..."

My breath caught in my throat as Teklan's skin bubbled and shimmered before me. I watched as it slowly transformed into something no words could possibly describe. It was alien, it was disgusting, but at the same time, absolutely beautiful.

Her smooth tan skin had been replaced by a rough, scaly hide, the light dancing across the shades of blue. Muscular skin flaps stretched down her legs, and her feet had been replaced by flippers. The scales faltered around her face, where they ended roughly and unevenly, like a skyline of a city. Her neck now sported a set of gills on either side, hungering for the water. Her hair was still flowing down her back, long and beautiful, but there was something different about it. It looked the same, but looking at it didn't give me an impression of regular hair. It simply wasn't human.

The one thing that remained truly untouched were her eyes. Cold, calculating, intimidating. The kind of eyes where you were terrified to look into them, because you were afraid of what you might see.

Teklan gasped and wheezed, clearly drowning. Is that was she was doing? Drowning? Could a fish drown?

"Seen enough?" she choked out, staring at me with those unfeeling eyes. I felt vulnerable, as if she could see into my very being. I stared back, trying not to show fear.

The process repeated itself, her body transforming back into a human form.

"If you leave this world, and never return, I will let you go," the Doctor negotiated.

"Don't let it go!" I yelled before I could stop myself. I was quickly shut up by one look from the Doctor.

"I don't think so, Doctor," Teklan answered. "You see, you won't let me go. You'll report me to the Shadow Proclamation. I'm not stupid, I know what laws I've broken. I live on a planet of fugitives. You won't let me get away that easily."

"I give you my word. If you leave, you can go back to your planet in peace," the Doctor assured her. Teklan laughed.

"You would give me a second chance? But, oh Doctor. No second chances. You're that sort of man."

Before I could even comprehend what was happening, Teklan broke free of the Doctor and sprinted to the edge of the cliff.

"No, NO!" the Doctor screamed as Teklan's body tumbled down into the rocky waters. I quickly got up and ran to his side.

"But, she's a fish. She could survive that, she could be swimming off to find more victims," I said. The Doctor shook his head.

"She was still in a human form. She didn't transform, she wouldn't have anyway. The fall would have killed her, easily. She's dead."

The Doctor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I could've helped her."

"Why would you?" I asked him. "What good would possibly come of that? She would have faced a punishment. You know it as well as I do."

The Doctor groaned, clearly upset by the situation. "So then. You've had an exciting day."

I rolled my eyes. Way to change the subject, Doc. "Yeah. Got into a fistfight with an alien. Don't get to do that every day."

"Um, yeah, I didn't ask, are you alright?" he asked me, pointing to the blood matting my hair. I shrugged.

"It's mostly her blood. No head wounds. I promise."

"I, um, wouldn't blame you if this was too much for you."

I stared at him blankly.

"You know, if you wanted to go home."

A bark of laughter escaped me. "Please. I'm just getting my sea legs. You're not getting rid of me that easily, Doctor."

A wide grin slowly grew across the Doctor's face. I smiled back at him.

"Well, then, Aislinn Gallagher, shall we?" he asked, holding his arm out to me.

I rolled my eyes, but took his arm in mine. "You know, you've gotta stop calling me by my full name."

"Then what am I supposed to call you?"

"Oh, I don't know, how about Aislinn? Maybe after a while I'll let you call me Ash."

"Deal."

"Doctor?" I asked once we were back inside the TARDIS. "What did she mean? Back on the cliff. About you."

The Doctor opened his mouth like he was just going to tell me to ignore it, then seemed to decide against it. He looked at me, pain clouding his eyes.

"Her name was Rose."

* * *

><p>End of chapter :) I'm actually really excited about this chapter, it is possibly the longest chapter I have ever written in any fanfiction I have ever written. I know it took a while, and I apologize for that. Next chapter will be mostly just talking about their pasts, and Rose, very little action. I <em>am<em> a Ten/Rose shipper, so if you have the same opinion as Steven Moffat, and don't like them, sorry, but Ten and Rose were in love, and he did just lose her for the second time. And I do want to have this fic be about Aislinn and Ten's friendship as much as it is about action, because no series of Doctor Who is ever just about action. The companions really mean something to the Doctor. That was a longer Author's Note than I intended, sorry! Please review!


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